In the early 1950’s a select group of
individuals began to publicly make claims of having had direct
physical contact with ‘human looking’ representatives of different
extraterrestrial civilizations.

These ‘contactees’ claimed to have
been given knowledge of the extraterrestrials’ advanced
technologies, philosophical beliefs and their efforts to assist
humanity in becoming part of a galactic society where open contact
with off world civilizations would occur.

Contactees described the
Extraterrestrials as benign, very respectful of human free will, and
ancestrally linked to humanity (thus dubbed the “space brothers”.)
Further revealed by the contactees was that extraterrestrials, who
were in many cases indistinguishable from humans, had secretly
integrated into human society.2

The apparent goals were to better
acquaint themselves with different national cultures, and/or to
participate in an educational uplift program to prepare humanity for
galactic status. Contactees began to disseminate to the general
public the nature of their experiences and knowledge gained through
interaction with extraterrestrials.

Information revealed by contactees presented an unrivaled national
security crisis for policy makers in the U.S. and other major
nations. Two main elements comprised this crisis. First, the
advanced space vehicles and technologies possessed by
extraterrestrial civilizations were far more sophisticated than the
most developed aircraft, weapons and communications systems
possessed by national governments.

This presented an urgent technological
problem that required vast national resources to bridge the
technological gap with extraterrestrials. It led to a second
Manhattan project whose existence and secret funding would be known
only to those with a “need to know.” 3

Manhattan II, along with evidence of
extraterrestrial visitors and technologies, would be kept secret
from the general public, the media and most elected political
representatives.

Second, extraterrestrial civilizations were contacting private
individuals, and even having some of their representatives integrate
into human society.4

This was encouraging growing numbers of
individuals to participate in a covert extraterrestrial effort to
prepare humanity for “galactic status” - where the existence of
extraterrestrials would be officially acknowledged and open
interaction would occur. Also included was the issue of nuclear
disarmament.

Tens of thousands of individuals
supported the contactees who distributed newsletters, spoke at
conferences and traveled widely spreading their information for
peacefully transforming the planet, and calling for an immediate end
to the development of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons threatened
more than humanity’s future according to the extraterrestrials.
Every detonation disrupted the fabric of space that could also
seriously affect their own worlds in destructive ways.

Directly confronted were the policies of major nations that were
actively building nuclear weapons.

Enormous revolutionary potential
for the entire planet was put forward. Thus, contactees presented an
urgent national security need for an extensive counter-intelligence
program. Preventing the contactee movement from becoming a catalyst
for global changes through the teachings and experiences gained from
extraterrestrials became top priority.

Consequently, a highly secret
and ruthless counter-intelligence program was finally implemented
that directly targeted contactees and their supporters.
A series of covert intelligence programs were implemented that aimed
to neutralize the revolutionary potential of the contactee movement.

These programs evolved in three stages that resulted in the final
counter-intelligence program that was adopted to eliminate any
threat posed by contactees.

Stage one was the initial
surveillance of contactees by intelligence agencies that
attempted to discern the scope and implications of human and
extraterrestrial interaction.

Stage two was the more active
phase of debunking and discrediting contactees and their
supporters.

Finally, stage three was
integrated into the FBI’s COINTELPRO which provided the
necessary cover for comprehensively neutralizing any
possible threat by contactees who might join other dissident
groups for comprehensive policy changes.

All three stages of the covert programs
employed against contactees were secretly run by the CIA, the
Air
Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and the NSA, whose
field agents were directly aware of the reality of extraterrestrial
life, and the contact and communications occurring with private
citizens.

This paper concentrates on the covert counter intelligence program
adopted by U.S. national security agencies that targeted contactees
ever since the 1950’s in an effort to nullify, discredit and debunk
evidence confirming private citizen contact with extraterrestrial
civilizations, and the revolutionary potential this had to transform
the planet.

Phase One

Intelligence
Agencies Monitor Contactees
There is extensive documentation to establish that the FBI closely
monitored contactees, and were keenly interested in determining the
scope of their activities resulting from communications and
interactions with extraterrestrials.5

Declassified FBI documents establish
that prominent contactees were subjected to close monitoring where
their statements and activities were investigated, and field agents
directly issued reports to the FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover. Field
agent reports suggest that the FBI Director was seriously trying to
apprise himself of the revolutionary potential posed by contactees
and the threat to U.S. national security.

This
is not surprising given documentation that suggests the FBI was
largely left out of the intelligence loop concerning
extraterrestrial technologies.6 Hoover was probably relying on
surveillance of contactees to apprise himself of the true situation
concerning extraterrestrials.

George Van Tassel [photo on left] claims that in August 1953,
he had a physical meeting with human looking extraterrestrials from
Venus.

He subsequently established regular ‘telepathic’
communications with them where he was given information that he
shared with his many supporters and public authorities.

Popularity grew rapidly for Van Tassel
who had many thousands that read his newsletters and attended his
public lectures. Thousands also attended Van Tassel’s annual Giant
Rock Flying Saucer conventions in the Mojave Desert that began in
1954, and over a 23 year period became the key annual event for the contactee movement.

FBI interest in Van Tassel dates from November 1953, when he sent a
letter to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright
Patterson Air Force base on behalf of ‘Commander Ashtar’ to deliver
a “friendly warning” concerning the destructive weapons then under
development.7

This led to a meeting between Major S. Avner of the
Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) who
met with a liaison for the FBI, and culminated in Van Tassel being
interviewed by the two Special Agents on November 16, 1954. The
agents sent an extensive memo to J. Edgar Hoover detailing Van
Tassel’s claims to having been visited by extraterrestrials.8

Revealed by the memo is Hoover’s special
interest in what the extraterrestrials had to say about the atomic
weapons, an upcoming Third World War, and their ability to
telepathically communicate with Van Tassel.

Undisputedly, Van Tassel
was closely monitored by the FBI as evidenced in a document dated
April 12, 1965 which states:

“Van Tassel has been known to the Los
Angeles FBI Office since 1954." 9

Another contactee who received much FBI attention was
George Adamski.

Adamski first became known in 1947 for his photos of flying saucers
and motherships taken with an amateur telescope on Mount Palomar,
California, that received wide coverage. He became the most well
known of all contactees due to his internationally bestselling books
describing his meetings with extraterrestrials.

The first book, Flying Saucers Have
Landed (1953), was based on his November 20, 1952 Desert Center
encounter with "Orthon” the Venusian occupant of an extraterrestrial
scoutcraft. Orthon proceeded to tell Adamski about the dangers posed
by nuclear weapons and the possibility that all life could be
destroyed in an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.

Four months later, in February 1953,
Adamski claimed to have had another encounter. He was picked up by
two extraterrestrials at a Los Angeles hotel lobby, and driven to a
secret location where he again met Orthon and was taken inside a
Venusian mothercraft.10

Adamski’s UFO sightings and contacts with
extraterrestrials were supported by an impressive collection of
witnesses, photographs and films that a number of independent
investigators concluded were not hoaxes.11

Interest in Adamski by the FBI began in September 1950 when a
confidential source began relaying information to the FBI’s San
Diego office. According to the source, Adamski explained that the
social system used by the extraterrestrials most closely resembled
communism.

This,

“raised eyebrows within the FBI, and led to
continued, deep monitoring.” 12

Also according to the FBI source,
Adamski claimed,

“this country is a corrupt form of government and
capitalists are enslaving the poor.” 13

Predictably, such comments led
to Adamski being viewed as a “security matter.” 14

The source was never revealed by the FBI
and so there was no way to evaluate the source’s objectivity in
relaying such prejudicial information. Adamski’s claims that the
extraterrestrials viewed the development of nuclear weapons as a
threat of the future of humanity, was a cause of deep concern among
officials. It was such views that led to the FBI considering him,
along with George Van Tassel, as a subversive that required close
monitoring according to a 1952 document.15

A lecture by Adamski at a California Lions Club on March 12, 1953,
was covered by a local newspaper that reported that Adamski had
official FBI and Air Force clearance to present his material to the
public. According to Adamski this newspaper report was ‘incorrect’,
but led to a visit by FBI and Air Force representatives who were
apparently concerned by references to official clearance.16

The representatives demanded that
Adamski sign a document that his material did not have official
clearance. J. Edgar Hoover’s office received the FBI and Air Force
representatives’ report, together with the signed document.
Popularity and Adamski’s international travel led to the FBI and
other intelligence agencies paying close attention to his statements
and public reactions.

Adamski claimed to have been given private
audiences with Pope John XXIII, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and
other VIP’s.17

In February 1959 Adamski traveled to New
Zealand, and spoke before packed audiences. A one page Foreign
Service Dispatch with Adamski’s key talking points was circulated to
the FBI, CIA, Air Force and Navy thus confirming continued
monitoring of Adamski.

Other contactees who were monitored by the FBI according to
declassified documents included Daniel Fry, George Hunt Williamson,
and Truman Bethurum.18

Information relayed by contactees concerning
the social and economic systems of the extraterrestrials, together
with the extraterrestrials’ criticism of the nuclear weapons
development occurring around the globe, led to them and their
supporters being considered a security threat. Given U.S. national
hysteria over communism during the McCarthy Era, this led to
counter-intelligence programs being implemented against the
contactees.

Debunking and discrediting contacteeclaims were the most significant activities that occurred.

Phase Two

Debunking &
Discrediting Contactees

An active role was played by the CIA in creating the necessary
legal, political and social environment for the debunking of flying
saucer reports and discrediting contactee claims. It did so by
depicting flying saucer reports as a national security threat
insofar as mass hysteria over them could be exploited by foreign
enemies.

Solid justification for such a
psychological program was built on the famous 1938 radio broadcast
by Orson Welles. A renowned book on Wells’ broadcast by Dr Hadley Cantril focused on the psychology of panic, and was later widely
cited by national security experts in relation to public interest
over flying saucer reports.[19]

Consequently the CIA led covert
psychological operations that would ‘educate’ the American public
about the ‘correct facts’ concerning flying saucer reports and
contactee claims.

One of the first actions taken by the
CIA was to initiate the creation of an inter-agency government group
called the Psychological Strategy Board that would deal with
national security threats through covert psychological operations.

July 18, 1951.

Gordon Gray (right),
being administered the oath as the first Director of the new
Psychological Strategy Board by Frank K. Sanderson (left),

while President Harry
S. Truman (center) witnesses the event.

Source: Truman
Library Collection.

A Presidential Directive on April 4,
1951, created the Psychological Strategy Board,

"to authorize and provide for the
more effective planning, coordination, and conduct within the
framework of approved national policies, of psychological
operations."[20]

Initially set up by Gordon Gray, a top
advisor to President Truman at the time (and also later with
President Eisenhower), the Psychological Strategy Board was an
interagency organization that was initially located within the CIA,
but reported to the National Security Council. Ostensibly the
Psychological Strategy Board would lead covert psychological
operations to deal with the Cold War threat.

The Cold War threat was a cover for its true function. In reality,
the Psychological Strategy Board was created to deal with the
national security threat posed by flying saucer reports and contactee claims that could undermine the authority of the U.S.
government.

Evidenced in leaked government documents, Gray is
described as a founding member of the secret control group,
allegedly titled Majestic-12 Special Studies Group (MJ-12), which
took charge of the extraterrestrial issue.[21]

According to one of the leaked Majestic
Documents, President Truman created the Psychological Strategy Board
after recommendation by the head of MJ-12.[22] Gray’s leadership and
the role of MJ-12 in its creation, helps confirm that the
Psychological Strategy Board was created to run psychological
operations to shape public opinion on the extraterrestrial issue.

Psychological Strategy Board success, together with its successor
the Operations Coordinating Board, and all covert psychological
operations concerning extraterrestrial life, was to only disclose
the truth to those with a “need to know.”[23]

This required the creation of a suitable
national security cover for psychological operations against the
American public. Victory would be achieved by the formation of a
panel of experts that could shape government policy and intelligence
activities against those involved in extraterrestrial affairs.
Consequently, the CIA secretly convened a public panel of
‘impartial’ experts to discuss the available physical evidence.

Named after its chairman, Dr Howard Robertson,
the Robertson Panel
reviewed cases of flying saucers over a four-day period for a total
of 12 hours and found none of them to be credible. Conclusions by
the Panel were released in a document called
the Durant Report. It
recommended ridiculing the ‘flying saucer phenomenon’ and the
possibility of extraterrestrial life, for national security reasons.

The Report is key to understanding the
institutionally sanctioned debunking and discrediting of evidence
concerning extraterrestrial life.

Confirmation of the leading role
of the CIA in convening the panel and choosing experts appears in
the Durant Report itself, despite efforts to suppress the CIA’s role
in early releases of sanitized versions.

The CIA’s Intelligence Advisory
Committee had agreed that the,

“Director of Central Intelligence
will… [e]nlist the services of selected scientists to review
and appraise the available evidence in the light of pertinent
scientific theories…”[24]

Almost exclusively the Report focused on
the national security threat posed by foreign powers exploiting the
American public’s belief in the flying saucer phenomenon.

It
declared:

“Subjectivity of public to mass
hysteria and greater vulnerability to possible enemy
psychological warfare … [and] if reporting channels are
saturated with false and poorly documented reports, our
capability of detecting hostile activity will be reduced.”[25]

Consequently, the Robertson panel
recommended an ‘educational program’ to remove the threat posed by
enemy nations exploiting the public’s belief in flying saucers:

The Panel’s concept of a broad
educational program integrating efforts of all concerned
agencies was that it should have two major aims: training and
“debunking.” …The "debunking" aim would result in reduction in
public interest in "flying saucers" which today evokes a strong
psychological reaction.

This education could be accomplished by
mass media such as television, motion pictures, and popular
articles.… Such a program should tend to reduce the current
gullibility of the public and consequently their susceptibility
to clever hostile propaganda.[26]

In conclusion, a Panel convened by the
CIA, with experts chosen by the CIA, reviewed a selection of flying
saucer cases over a 12 hour period spread over four days, and
concluded that the public’s psychological reaction to flying saucers
was the basis of a possible security threat.

The Cold War provided
the necessary security environment for the CIA and interagency
entities such as the Psychological Strategy Board, to claim that
flying saucers could be exploited by the Soviet Union using
psychological warfare techniques.

Consequently, psychological operations
would have to be conducted through the mass media and official
agencies to debunk flying saucer reports, and remove the possible
threat. Irrespective of the truth of contactee’s claims of having
met with extraterrestrials, this meant the public’s possible
reaction to the reality of flying saucers and extraterrestrial life
justified debunking all contactee reports.

Debunking techniques that could be used
to discredit contactees as reliable witnesses and make their claims
appear ridiculous included:

The Durant Report created the necessary legal justification to
debunk evidence provided by contactees regardless of the merits of
their claims.

This is evidenced by the way in which the FBI and
other intelligence agencies privately interacted with contactees,
and then made public statements or leaked information to the media
in ways that questioned the integrity of contactees.

For example, Adamski had communicated
with the FBI, AFOSI and the Pentagon over the content of material he
would put in his books, or documents he would present to the public.
This is not surprising given that many contactees, like Adamski,
were former military servicemen that understood the importance of
not doing anything to threaten national security.

Adamski was led to believe that he was
cleared to distribute a particular document, and had made public
statements to this effect. This led to the head of the FBI’s public
relations department, Louis B. Nichols, instructing Special Agent
Willis to meet with Adamski concerning the particular document in
question.

A subsequent FBI report dated 16
December 1953, stated:

Willis was told to have the San
Diego agents, accompanied by representatives of OSI if they care
to go along, call on Adamski and read the riot act in no
uncertain terms pointing out he has used this document in a
fraudulent, improper manner, that this Bureau has not endorsed,
approved, or cleared his speeches or book.[27]

The FBI made public its views about
Adamski’s alleged behavior in a way that delivered a “huge blow to
Adamski’s credibility.”[28]

At the time when the general public
believed unquestionably in the accuracy of statements made by public
officials, such negative comments would be sufficient to end one’s
career or credibility.

Certainly, many in the general public
interested in the flying saucer phenomenon now believed Adamski to
be a fraud. This was especially so for those advocating a scientific
investigation of flying saucers. What the public did not realize was
that intelligence agencies such as the FBI and AFOSI were intent on
debunking contactees as a matter of policy due to the threat they
posed to national security.

Thus contactees could be easily “set up”
to believe something informally told to them by insiders, and then
be publicly confronted by other officials claiming they had made
fraudulent statements when they could not confirm what they had been
told.

Another way in which contactee claims
were debunked was to have tabloid newspapers such as the National
Enquirer publish sensational reports that embellished on actual contactee testimonies or were entirely fabricated by staff
reporters. Any subsequent investigations by researchers would
demonstrate that such claims were exaggerated or unfounded, thereby
tainting the contactees and UFO research more generally.

The World
Weekly News

(an offshoot of the
National Enquirer)

ran from
1979-2007

What was not generally known was that
the National Enquirer was created and controlled by known CIA assets
whose covert assignment was to ridicule the entire flying saucer
phenomena. Gene Pope bought the New York Enquirer in 1952, and relaunched it as
The National Enquirer in 1954.

Pope was listed in
his Who’s Who biography as being a former CIA intelligence officer
and being involved in “psychological warfare.”[29]

Chief instrument of the covert
psychological operations used to debunk contactee claims and flying
saucer reports was The National Enquirer with its sensationalistic
tabloid style.

The National Enquirer along with other media sources
covering contactee claims were part of the education program that
required the debunking of flying saucer reports. Predictably, the
result of the sensationalist tabloid approach to contactee claims
was that serious reporters and researchers would avoid stories
covered by The National Enquirer.

As one of the chief instruments of the covert psychological warfare
being conducted by the CIA and other intelligence agencies against
contactees, the National Enquirer was a great success. It succeeded
so well that influential UFO researchers determined to establish the
scientific merit in investigating UFO reports, became unwitting
allies to the covert psychological program to dismiss contactee
claims.

This is evidenced in remarks by leading
UFO researchers such as Major Donald Keyhoe who emphasized the need
to separate genuine UFO reports from “the mass of wild tales and
usually ridiculous “contactee” claims”. [30]

Keyhoe along with other UFO researchers
were greatly concerned about contactee claims that were being
exaggerated by the press,

“the press unfortunately lump all
“spacemen” reports together causing many people to reject all of the
UFO evidence.”[31]

Essentially, Keyhoe viewed contactee
reports as an embarrassment that needed to be separated from the
more scientifically oriented UFO research.

Other prominent UFO
researchers followed Keyhoe’s approach thus creating a major schism
among those convinced extraterrestrial life was visiting the earth.

Successful debunking of reports of flying saucers and
extraterrestrial life made it possible for the CIA, FBI and
military
intelligence agencies, to move to the third stage of their covert
psychological operations.

Next, full scale counter-intelligence
warfare techniques to disrupt and neutralize the contactee movement.

Phase Three

Galactic COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO was a counter intelligence program initiated in 1956
against political dissidents that reportedly ended in 1971.

It was
primarily run by the FBI; other intelligence agencies such as the
CIA and NSA assisted in select covert activities. COINTELPRO assumed
that political dissidents in the U.S. were being influenced by
foreign powers in ways deemed a threat to U.S. national security.

It is worth reviewing the techniques
used by COINTELPRO with regard to political dissidents to understand
what occurred against contactees. In the case of both contactees and
political dissidents, the influence of “foreign powers” was thought
to justify military style counter-intelligence programs to disrupt
and neutralize these groups.

The “off world” nature of one of these
‘foreign powers’, extraterrestrials, did not appreciably change the
nature of the counterintelligence methods used against both
‘contactees’ and political dissidents. In both cases, the activities
of these groups were deemed to be threats to U.S. national security.

There were two significant differences in how COINTELPRO was
respectively used against political dissidents and contactees.

First, while intelligence agents were fully briefed about the
‘foreign powers’ influencing political dissidents, it is unlikely
they were fully briefed in the case contactees.

Second, while COINTELPRO against political dissidents was exposed and apparently
ended in 1971, the COINTELPRO used against contactees was never
exposed. It almost certainly continues to the present.

In 1975, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator
Frank Church
investigated COINTELPRO’s methods and targets, and published a
detailed report in 1976.[32]

The Church Committee described COINTELPRO as follows:

COINTELPRO is the FBI acronym for a
series of covert action programs directed against domestic
groups. In these programs, the Bureau went beyond the collection
of intelligence to secret action defined to "disrupt" and
"neutralize" target groups and individuals. The techniques were
adopted wholesale from wartime counterintelligence… [33]

Counterintelligence, as defined by the
Church Committee, constitutes,

“those actions by an intelligence
agency intended to protect its own security and to undermine
hostile intelligence operations.” [34]

The Committee described how,

“certain techniques the Bureau had
used against hostile foreign agents were adopted for use against
perceived domestic threats to the established political and
social order.”[35]

The Committee described COINTELPRO as a
series of covert actions taken against American citizens, and was
part of a “rough, tough, dirty business” according to William
Sullivan, assistant to the FBI Director.[36]

The Committee learned that:

“Groups and individuals have been
harassed and disrupted because of their political views and
their lifestyle…”[37]

The Committee found that COINTELPRO had,

“been directed against proponents of racial causes and women's
rights, outspoken apostles of nonviolence and racial harmony;
establishment politicians; religious groups; and advocates of new
life styles.”[38]

Between the years 1960-1974, over 500,000
investigations had been launched of potential subversives of the
U.S. government, but no charges were ever laid under statutes
concerning overthrow of the U.S. government.[39]

The Committee grouped the activities
conducted by COINTELPRO under the following headings:

General Efforts to Discredit

Media Manipulation

Distorting Data to Influence
Government Policy and Public Perceptions

"Chilling" First Amendment
Rights

Preventing the Free Exchange
of Ideas [40]

The Committee found that:

“Officials of the intelligence
agencies occasionally recognized that certain activities were
illegal, … [and] that the law, and the Constitution were simply
ignored.”[41]

More disturbingly, the Church Committee
concluded that: “Unsavory and vicious tactics have been
employed.”[42]

The Church Committee did not discuss COINTELPRO in regard to the UFO
issue or contactee claims. Despite that omission, circumstantial
evidence clearly points to COINTELPRO being used against contactees,
and was the final stage of well orchestrated counter-intelligence
program to "disrupt" and "neutralize" the contactee movement.

As
shown earlier in the cases of Van Tassel and Adamski, contactee
claims dealing with a range of socio-economic and military policies
from the perspective of extraterrestrial life, were viewed as
subversive and a direct threat to U.S. national security.

The Report
described the unpredictability of societal reactions to such a
discovery:

Evidences of its [extraterrestrial] existence might also be found in
artifacts left on the moon or other planets. The consequences for
attitudes and values are unpredictable, but would vary profoundly in
different cultures and between groups within complex societies; a
crucial factor would be the nature of the communication between us
and the other beings.[43]

Devastating societal effects, according to the Report, could result
from contact with more technologically advanced off world societies:

Anthropological files contain many
examples of societies, sure of their place in the universe,
which have disintegrated when they had to associate with
previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and
different life ways; others that survived such an experience
usually did so by paying the price of changes in values and
attitudes and behavior.[44]

The Brookings Report went on to raise
the possibility of suppressing any announcement of extraterrestrial
life or artifacts for national security reasons:

“How might such information, under
what circumstances, be presented or withheld from the
public?”[45]

Consequently, it is clear that official
fear over societal responses to any official announcement of
extraterrestrial life was a paramount national security concern. A
powerful justification for the use of COINTELPRO against contactees
had been found.

One of the most important tactics used by COINTELPRO was to disrupt
dissident groups by creating divisions and suspicion among their
supporters. In the ‘Galactic’ version of COINTELPRO, disruption
occurred by dividing those who accepted evidence confirming the
reality of UFO’s and extraterrestrial life. A division between
exponents of a purely scientific approach to UFO data and those
supporting the testimonies of contactees was cleverly exploited by
COINTELPRO operatives.

Victory would be achieved by convincing
more technically oriented supporters of a purely scientific approach
that the contactee movement would discredit “serious” researchers.
To help convince supporters of a scientific approach that their
efforts would eventually bear fruit, an official Air Force
investigation was launched in 1952.

Project Blue Book was little more than a
public relations exercise by the U.S. Air Force to convince the
general public and UFO researchers that it was taking UFO reports
seriously. In reality, Project Blue Book provided minimal resources
for a serious UFO investigation and primarily acted as a vehicle for
defusing public interest in UFO reports.[46]

One of Project Blue Book’s primary functions was to carry out the
first plank of the “education program” recommended by the Durant
Report.

It would “train” the general public how to correctly
evaluate the UFO data in ways that would defuse public and media
interest in such reports. In short, Project Blue Book was a key part of
the covert psychological operations being conducted to convince the
general public and media that UFO reports were not important, and
not worth considering.

Nevertheless, the status of Project Blue
Book as an official Air Force investigation encouraged UFO
researchers that rigorous sufficient methods and research would
eventually bear fruit. Such hopes were dashed in 1969 by the
Condon
Committee’s final report which publicly put an end to the Air Force
investigation and Project Blue Book.

Another primary function of Project Blue Book was to neutralize the contactee movement by depicting personal testimonies of contact with
extraterrestrials as unscientific. By providing a highly visible
public investigation, Project Blue Book provided the necessary
‘training’ for scientific research that would systematically exclude contactee reports.

UFO researchers would be encouraged to
attack contactee reports as unscientific, prone to delusion or
fraud, and an insult to ‘serious’ UFO research. Statements by
leading UFO researchers such as Dr Allen Hynek, a former consultant
to Project Blue Book, provide evidence that such a process occurred.

In a book purporting to provide the
scientific foundations of UFO research, Dr J. Allen Hynek
dismissed testimonies of contactees who he regarded as
“pseudoreligious fanatics” with “low credibility value:”

I must emphasize that contact
reports are not classed as Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
It is unfortunate, to say the least, that reports such as these
have brought down upon the entire UFO problem the opprobrium and
ridicule of scientists and public alike, keeping alive the
popular image of “little green men” and the fictional atmosphere
surrounding that aspect of the subject.[47]

As Hynek’s statement makes clear, UFO
researchers attacked contactee reports with great vigor to defuse
what they considered to be a major challenge to serious public
consideration of UFO reports.

By encouraging UFO researchers that a
purely scientific method would result in the truth about UFOs and
extraterrestrial life eventually coming out, Galactic COINTELPRO
succeeded in creating a major schism among those accepting the
reality of UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

By the end of the 1960’s, the contactee
movement had been so thoroughly debunked and discredited by UFO
researchers, that COINTELPRO no longer needed to have Project Blue
Book continue. UFO researchers had become an unwitting accomplice of
intelligence agencies secretly conducting the various covert
psychological programs that made up Galactic COINTELPRO.

Galactic COINTELPRO also had a more sinister side in terms of
“unsavory and vicious tactics” that were employed contactees that
reflected methods used against political dissidents.[48]

The mysterious Men In Black (MIB)
phenomenon has been described by various researchers who discovered
that individuals with extraterrestrial related experiences were
often threatened and harassed by well dressed men in dark business
suits who gave the appearance of being public officials.

Evidence
that elite intelligence groups were tasked to intimidate, harasses
and even “neutralize” contactees or others with direct experience
with extraterrestrials or their technology appears in a leaked
document that a number of veteran UFO researchers consider to be
legitimate.[49]

If at all possible, witnesses will
be held incommunicado until the extent of their knowledge and
involvement can be determined. Witnesses will be discouraged
from talking about what they have seen, and intimidation may be
necessary to ensure their cooperation.[50]

Investigations were also conducted by
the US Air Force that was concerned by reports that MIB impersonated
Air Force officials.

A March 1, 1967 memo prepared by the Assistant
Vice Chief of Staff described incidents where civilians had been
contacted by individuals claiming to be members of NORAD and
demanded evidence possessed by witnesses.[51]

The shadowy operations of the MIB and the SOM1-01 document suggests
that they were part of an “enforcement” division of the
counter-intelligence effort that comprised the FBI, the Air Force’s
OSI, the Navy Office of Naval Intelligence and even the CIA. It’s
very possible that MIB were associated with more secretive
intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) where selected agents had
higher security clearances for dealing with evidence of
extraterrestrial life.[52]

Consequently, a pecking order existed among the intelligence
agencies involved in Galactic COINTELPRO where each conducted
specific functions. Agents drawn from the FBI, the Air Force OSI
(and other military intelligence units including the Navy’s ONI)
were primarily involved in intelligence gathering, and closely
monitoring the activities of contactees as evidenced in FOIA
documents.

The CIA was involved in coordinating
debunking and discrediting efforts against contactees through a
public education program outlined in the Durant Report. The
NSA and
NRO were involved in tracking communications and interactions with
extraterrestrial life, and provided enforcement teams to withdraw
evidence and intimidate contactees into silence.

Galactic COINTELPRO could therefore
minimize the amount of extraterrestrial related information held by
different sections in each intelligence agency where agents were
instructed to perform specific functions. Most out of the loop
concerning the reality of extraterrestrial life and the merit of
contactee claims was the FBI.

On the other hand, the NSA and NRO
appeared to be most in the loop due to their monitoring of
extraterrestrial activities through electronic communication and
satellite imagery. Military intelligence agencies appeared to fill
intermediate functions where they supported Galactic COINTELPRO
without being given access to all information concerning
extraterrestrial life and projects.

This is evidenced in Vice Admiral Tom
Wilson, the head of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J-2)
in 1998 who reportedly was out of the loop on extraterrestrial
related projects. [53]

CONCLUSION

Galactic COINTELPRO against contactees aimed to minimize the threat
posed by human looking extraterrestrials to the policies adopted by
secretly appointed committees with regard to extraterrestrial life
and technologies.

Primarily the threat from the extraterrestrials
was that they would succeed in having contactees convince large
portions of the American and global public for comprehensive policy
changes to prepare humanity for status as a galactic society.

Such policy changes were considered a
direct security threat by policy makers in the U.S. and in other
countries who were briefed about the reality of extraterrestrial
life.

Galactic COINTELPRO involved three
interrelated phases that culminated in a comprehensive
counter-intelligence program to neutralize and disrupt the threat
posed by the contactee movement.

First was a surveillance program
orchestrated by the FBI which closely monitored the contactee’s
public lectures, interactions and communications. Documents
released through FOIA have confirmed that the FBI conducted
extensive monitoring of prominent contactees, and worked with
other intelligence agencies such as the Air Force OSI.

The second phase of Galactic
COINTELPRO was a debunking and discrediting program secretly run
by the CIA which convened the Robertson Panel which issued the
Durant Report in 1953. Its most important finding for the
counter-intelligence program was to justify an education program
comprising ‘training’ the public and ‘debunking’ witness
testimonies, including contactees, on the basis of the national
security threat posed by the public’s belief in UFO’s being
exploited by foreign enemies.

Irrespective of the merit of
contactee claims, this meant that evidence and statements would
be debunked and discredited on national security grounds.
Intelligence professionals in the unenviable position of
debunking and discrediting people who they may have privately
concluded were genuinely describing actual events that had
occurred to them.

FBI documents establish that FBI
agents and sources played an active role in discrediting
prominent contactees as part of the CIA’s psychological program
against contactees.

Galactic COINTELPRO’s final stage
was to create a schism between those accepting evidence of
extraterrestrial life. A group of UFO researchers advocating a
scientific methodology were encouraged to disassociate
themselves from contactee claims that were regarded as
unscientific, and unlikely to lead to public support by
academics, bureaucrats and congressional representatives.

Project Blue Book was created to
encourage UFO researchers to hold on to the misguided belief
that a strict scientific methodology would be sufficient to
overturn government policy on covering up the reality of
extraterrestrial life. UFO researchers therefore led the charge
against contactee claims being seriously considered.

Aided by the Project Blue Book
investigation, the public was trained in what categories of UFO
evidence ought to be considered legitimate. None of these
categories included contactee claims.

Galactic COINTELPRO could not have
succeeded without the unwitting assistance of veteran UFO
researchers who were all too eager to dismiss contactee claims as
unscientific and prone to delusion or fraud.

Such researchers failed
miserably to anticipate the Galactic COINTELPRO that had been
implemented to disrupt and neutralize contactee testimonies, and
readily accepted official statements questioning the integrity of
contactee claims.

Indeed, the eagerness with which UFO
researchers established themselves as the gatekeepers of serious
scientific research into UFOs, and debunked contactee claims marks
the most tragic aspect of six decades of research into UFOs and
extraterrestrial life.

Another key factor in the success of Galactic COINTELPRO to the
present has been the compartmentalization of extraterrestrial
related information. This made it possible for intelligence agencies
to perform specific functions within Galactic COINTELPRO without
agents being informed of the truth of contactee claims.

The success of debunking and
discrediting contactees would have to depend on intelligence agents
believing contactees were a genuine security threat. Consequently,
extraterrestrial related information was made available on a strict
need to know basis ensuring that only a selected group of
individuals within different intelligence agencies were briefed at
all.

A summary table can be compiled for key intelligence agencies, their
respective activities in Galactic COINTELPRO, and their level of
access to extraterrestrial related information.

Table 1. U.S. Intelligence Agencies
and Galactic COINTELPRO

Agency

Activities

Access to
Extraterrestrial Related Information

Federal Bureau of
Investigations

FBI

Intelligence gathering,
withdrawing evidence, and discrediting contactees by
local field agents.

None. FBI Director Hoover
was denied access and did not have capacities for
monitoring extraterrestrial activities.

Air Force Office of Special
Investigations (with cooperation of other military
intelligence units, e.g., Office of Naval Intelligence)
- AFOSI

Coordinates interagency
efforts in covert psychological programs to deceive
public about extraterrestrial life.

Full. Has access to full
range of information provided by intelligence agencies
in order to develop a strategic response to
extraterrestrial activities.

In conclusion, many pioneering men and women who may have accurately
related their physical contact with extraterrestrials had their
reputations and careers systematically undermined by public
officials, the mass media and UFO researchers.

It appears that such
an outcome was intended as part of an official Galactic COINTELPRO
that continues to the present day.

In contrast to the termination of the
FBI’s COINTELPRO against political dissidents in 1971; it is very
likely that individuals in public office, the mass media and among
the UFO research community may be active agents of an ongoing
COINTELPRO against contactees.

It is hoped that exposure of Galactic COINTELPRO will help dispel the reflexive dismissal of contactee
testimonies that has up to the present hindered an objective
evaluation of direct physical contact between private citizens and
extraterrestrial life.

ENDNOTES

I am very grateful to Angelika
Sareighn Whitecliff for her stylistic improvements to this
article.

See Nick Redfern, On the Trail
of the Saucer Spies (Anomalist Books, 2006).

See FBI (FOIA) document released
on 06/09/1986 concerning J. Edgar Hoover claim that the FBI
was being denied access to recovered Flying Discs, available
online at:
http://www.cufon.org/cufon/foia_001.htm